Quartz Mountain L-11E N515BW

Summary

On 24 January 2018 at about 20:18 local time, a Quartz Mountain L-11E registered N515BW, operated by Oracle Aviation, LLC, was involved in an accident near Omaha, Nebraska, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

24 January 2018 at 20:18

Classification

Accident

Location

Omaha, Nebraska, United States

Nearest airport

Millard (MLE)

Coordinates

41.1961, -96.1122

Aircraft

Quartz Mountain L-11E

Registration

N515BW

Category

Airplane

Year built

2008

Engines

1

Operator

Oracle Aviation, LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Omaha → Omaha

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN18LA085

Nobody was injured.

The instructor pilot’s inadequate preflight fuel planning, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and a total loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During an instructional flight, the two pilots—an airline transport pilot giving instruction and a commercial pilot receiving instruction—flew to two airports and made an instrument approach at each airport. Upon returning to the pilots' home airport and while on another instrument approach, the engine lost all power. The pilot giving instruction assumed control of the airplane and made a forced landing in a school baseball field. During the forced landing, the airplane struck trees and a fence, causing substantial damage to a wing spar. During a postaccident examination, a total of ½ gallon of fuel was drained from both tanks. The airplane's fuel capacity was 42 gallons, of which 40 gallons was usable. The airplane had been serviced with fuel several days before the accident, and the service technician estimated that 34 gallons of fuel was on board the airplane at the beginning of the accident flight. The pilot giving instruction reported that he had visually verified that the airplane was "full of fuel" before the flight, and he expected that there would be enough fuel for 4 hours of flight. The pilot giving instruction planned 3 hours of flight time, and the airplane's Hobbs meter indicated 3.1 hours of flight time.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.